Workbench

For those of you who knew I was building this, here it is a year later! I started it just after my daughter was born and did not realize how much my time for woodworking would decrease. Now I have a good reason to escape to the shop more often.

This bench was a lot of fun to build! I researched hundreds of designs for the last few years and then discovered this one. I replicated the design from Lon Schleining and his 2004 book, ”The Workbench: A Complete Guide to Creating Your Perfect Bench”, Taunton Press. Lon was also kind enough to consult with me over e-mail as I moved through construction. It is almost an exact replica except I used some Jatoba inlays for the top and vices and Lon actually took the time to create hand-cut dovetails for the aprons, something I have not perfected yet. I used my Inca-Jig.

What you might find most interesting is that 75% of the wood used was salvaged. I work for a housing program at a local University and we were about to take a load of wood to the dump. The top is an old 2” thick maple food prep table from the dining commons and the base of the bench is old oak butcher block lounge chairs and maple bed rails that were resawn and glued. The base is all solid wood, no hardware, as the plans called for through mortises with wedge reinforcements. The only wood I purchased was for the aprons, front vice and twin screw vice. All vice hardware and bench dogs are from Veritas.

Although it was a long process and sometimes painful, I would not hesitate to build another one! I’ll also look to updating my website soon now that I am getting into the shop more often.

Very nice bench. Good score on the used wood, too! People sometimes don’t realize just how much work it takes using used wood. Great job! I echo Jaxx’s comment. I would be too hesitant to use such a beautiful bench.

Gorgeous looking bench. I’m a big fan of Mr. Schleining. Does it do the job you believed it would? Any changes you might make on a version 2? How about working height? Again, gorgeous execution. Can’t kick about the money for wood either. Gotta love that.

always,J.C.

-- When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. -- John Muir